432 Mr. G. Munby on the Botancal Productions 
have used it roasted to imitate coffee. Chestnuts are very rare, 
as I have not seen a dozen trees in the country. Cherry-trees grow 
wild in some of the shady ravines of Boujareah near Algiers, but 
I never saw any fruit on them: the cherries consumed in Algiers 
are brought from Spain. Plums are more common, but not of a 
good quality. Apples are very poor, although in certain districts 
near Algiers a small kind of summer apple is very common. 
Pears are better, but there existed very few varieties until the 
French occupation. The loquat, or fruit of Mespilus japonica, 
ripens perfectly and is much esteemed ; it has rather the taste of 
an English gooseberry: this last shrub is cultivated in a few 
gardens as an object of curiosity, but I never saw the red cur- 
rant, although many French colonists have imported the tree, 
which seldom survives the first year. The service-tree, Sorbus 
domestica, is rather common in gardens. Strawberries have 
been introduced by the French, and produce fruit in gardens 
which have a good supply of water: in such places they are to 
be had at all seasons, even in December. The Moors call them 
tout ensara, Christian mulberries. 
There are very few gardens without a few banana or plantain- 
trees : the fruit ripens perfectly, but always fetches a high price. 
In certain parts in the interior, as Tlemcen, the walnut-tree 1s 
common, but it is rare near the coast : the bark of the root is very 
much used by the natives to dye their feet and hands on feast- 
days. Almond-trees are very common ; they flower in January 
and ripen their fruit in September. I can scarcely count the 
myrtle as a fruit-tree, yet the ripe berries are much eaten, and 
even brought from Spain; they have a sweetish but powerfully 
aromatic taste, resembling juniper berries. Of the same flavour 
are the berries of the lentisk-tree, which are eaten by both Moors 
and Spaniards. 
Many opinions have been given as to the fruit called Lotus, 
described by Herodotus, Pliny, Theophrastus, and other ancient 
writers, and which gave its name to a whole people, who were 
called Lotophagi. Some believe it to be the fruit of the Celtis 
australis common in the Mediterranean region ; this tree however 
does not answer to the description of the lotus- tree, which was 
described as being a low prickly shrub. nor does the fruit possess 
the quality attributed to it, of making a man forget his country, 
“tam dulci ibi cibo, ut nomen etiam genti terreque dederit, ni- 
mis hospitali advenarum oblivione patrie, &c.” (Plin. 1.13. ¢. 17.) 
Shaw and Peyssonel fancied that it was the Ziziphus Lotus or 
Sidra of the Arabs: the description of the shrub agrees with that 
of the real lotus ; but its fruit, which resembles very much that of 
our common hawthorn in flavour, can neither by its taste nor 
any other property, cause a man to forget his country. The date 
